Saw-gage.



E. W. HABBRMAAS.

SAW GAGE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.24.1908.

Patented June 29, 1909.

.life "f T? lll Hl f bottom of tac cut.

Ummm) STAT@ `PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD W. IIABICRMAAS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

SAW-GAGE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD W. HABER- MAAs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Ilamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Saw-Gages, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to attachments for saws, and its object is to facilitate cutting with a saw to specified depths and maintaining the bottom of the cut parallel to the surface in which the cut is made, such as in cutting gains and tenons.

My invention consists in a fence, adapted, when in operative osition, to lie longitudinally of the saw b ade, arms on the fence adapted to extend past the back of the saw, a resilient engaging member articulately attached to each of the arms, a rigid clamping member superimposed on each of the engaging members and articulately attached to the engaging member and to the arm, and adjusting plates on the clamping members.

My invention also consists in the parts and in the details of construction and arrangement of parts as will hereinafter be more Yfully described and claimed.

In the drawing: Figure l is a side elevation of a saw equipped with my improved gage, the adjusting members being in their temporary positions while adjusting the gage of the saw. Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating the saw in use with my improved gage applied thereto, the saw having reached the Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line .ugr of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section on line corresponding to the line 9ct-1t of Fig. 2, illustrating how my improved invention is applied to a back-saw. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the lower end part of one of the adjusting plates. Fig. 6 is a cross section on a line corresponding to the line lg/-fi/ of Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a vertical section, enlarged, corresponding to the sections shown in Figs. 3 and 4i, but illustrating the arms as removably secured to the fence. Fig. S is a view similar to Fig. 7 but illustrating the construction when wood is used instead of metal.

Constructed as illustrated, the fence i comprises a straight piece, preferably not of less length than the working stroke of the saw, upon which are rigidly mounted the arms 2, extending at right angles to the length of the fence and at a distance apart Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led August 24, 1908.

Patented June 29, 1909.

Serial No. 449,943.

suflicient to enable them to constitute stable bearings on the side of the saw. It will be understood that in constructing my improved gage so that it will be adapted for use on saws of a variety of lengths, the fence may be made long enough to form an ellicient guide, throughout the length of its working stroke, for the longest saw upon which the gage is to be used, while the arms 2 may be placed close enough together to both be available for clamping against the side of the blade of the shortest saw upon which the gage is to be used. Likewise, it will be understood that the arms 2 may be of sufficient length to allow the gage to be used on the saw blade of the greatest width, at the same time being available for use on narrower saw blades.

The 'f aces of the arms 2 and the side of the fence l which are adapted to make contact with the side of the saw blade are in the same plane. The lower side of the i'encc is dis osed at right .ngles to the side which ma ies contact with the side of the saw blade, and thus forms a full bearing surface for the device when the saw has reached the bottom of its cut. Then, if the gage has been adiusted on the saw so that the fence has its ower side parallel with the cutting edge oil' the saw when the cutting edge of the saw is straight, the bottom el' the saw cut will be maintained parallel with the straight surface of the piece in which the cut has been made, due to the fact that the 'fence thus forms a Vlirm bearing on the surface ol' the piece. This condition is illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

For clamping the -fence 1 on the saw blade, an engaging member 3, preferably ol' shape uniform with that o'l' the arm, is articulately bolts l passing through the arms and through the engaging members. These engaging members 3 are adapted to diverge from the arms 2 away 'from their attachment thereto so that the saw blade 5 may be en'ibraced between the engaging members 3 and the arms 2.

For engaging the members 3 with the side of the saw blade thus embraced between the engaging members and the arms, a clamping member, also preferably of shape uniform with that olI the arm, is superimposed upon each ol' the engaging members 3 and articulately secured to the arms 2 Iand the secured to each of the arms by means of t engaging member 3 by means of the bolt 4, 'which also passes through the clamping member. For constituting the bolt 4 an adjustable means of securing the engaging member 3 and the clamping member 6, this bolt is preferably provided with a nut 7, which may be screwed down on the bolt to engage with the clamping member 6 and draw the arm engaging member and clamping member closely and firmly together.

rhe clamping member 6 does not engage directly with the engaging member 3 in the region of its free end, but is provided with a screw 8 threaded into it and extending through it, the inner end of this screw 8 engaging with the surface of the engaging member 3. Then, the arm engaging member and clamping member being held together at the top by means of the bolt 4 with its nut 7, and the screw S being screwed through the clamping member 6 toward the engaging member 3, the engaging member 3 will be l'orced toward the saw blade by the screw, the reaction coming upon the clamping member 6.

To Afulfil the requirements of this construction, the engaging member 3 is resilient, while the clamping member 6 and arm 2 are relatively rigid, the resiliency of the engaging member 3 relative to that of the arm and clamping member being increased prel'erably by constructing the engaging member of a suitable resilient wood such as oak and constructing the arms and clamping member ol' a stronger and more rigid material, such as metal, and allowing the arm and clamping member each to be considerably thicker' than the engaging member. lVhile the bolt 4 with its nut 7 holds the arm, engaging member andclamping member together when the nut is screwed up tightly, if the nut is loosened, these members will be allowed to move slightly toward and away from each other, thus being articulately attached to each other as above noted. Hov ever, it is not desirable that these parts, which are articulately secured together by means ol' the bolt 4, should have pivotal movement around the bolt with respect to each other, as would be allowed only the bolt were provided. ln view of this, a stud 9 is rigidly mounted in the clamping member 6 at a short distance below the bolt 4 and extends loosely into openings 10 and 11 in the engaging member 3 and arm 2, respectively. Thus constructed, it will be seen that it is convenient to insert the saw blade between the arms and engaging members, (the nut 7 on the bolt 4, il' t e saw blade is comparatively wide, having been previously slightly loosened to admit of the ready insertion ol' the back of the sawV blade close up to the stud 9 which forms the limit of the opening between the jaws `formed by the arms 2 and engaging members 3) and then turn the screw 8 so that it is advanced toward the engaging member 3 to clamp its free end tightly against the saw blade and bind the saw blade between it and the adj acent part of the fence 1 and arm 2.

For facilitating the adjustment of the fence 1 in any specified position relative to the cutting edge of the saw, l provide the adjusting plates 12, one of these being mounted on each of the clamping members 6. These adjusting plates are of channel formation, the width of the channel being sufficient to allow the adjusting member to embrace the clamping member and be slidablc thereon longitudinally thereof. Each of these adjusting plates 12 is provided in its middle with a longitudinal slot 13 terminating closely adjacent to, but short of, the upper and lower ends of the blade. rllhe clamping screw S passes through the slot 13 in the adjusting plate but the adj usting plate is made ol such length relative to the clamping member 6, that when its lower end is lush with the lower end of the clamping member, its upper endv will come below the bolt 4 and nut 7 and clear' them sulliciently. rllhe stud 9, not eX- tending from the surface of the clamping member 6, allows the adjusting plate 12 to slide over it. rlhe clamping screw 8 is so proportioned with respect to the slot 13 that it does not engage with the adjusting plate 12. However, for holding the adjusting plate 12 in position for allowing it to be released for moving it, in use, each of the plates 12 is provided with a binding screw 14 taking into the clamping member 6 through the slot 13 in the adjusting plate a point slightly above the clamping screw 8, this screw 14 preferably being only at a surlicicnt d istanco from the clamping screw S to allow either of' them to be turned without interfering with the other, thus allowing the adjusting plato to be moved downward to the greatest eK- tent.

r)Che adjusting plate 12 is provided with a series of graduations 15 along the slot 13 therein, and, when the adusting plate is moved downward, the lower end o1z the clamping member 6 is visible through the slot 13 as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing. This lower end of the clamping member 6, being coincident with the lower side of the fence 1, forms an indicator, allowing, by the use of the graduations on the plate 12 in conjunction therewith, oic the accurate adjustment of the adjusting plate, so that this adjusting plate will form a rest vlior the when adjusting the gage to the saw blades.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, where the device is represented as being adjusted to the saw blade for allowing a depth of cut of iive eighths of an inch, the plates 12 on both of the clamping members 6 are moved downward until the graduations indicating liveeighths of an inch on each is coincident with the lower end of the clamping member 6 upon which the plate is mounted. Then both of the adjusting plates, being moved downward at equal distance and held in position by their binding screws 14, form supports for the device, so that if they are rested on a plane surface such as the upper surface of the piece 1G, the lower edge of the fence 1 will be parallel with this plane surface. Then, if the saw blade 5 is inserted between the jaws formed by the arms 2 and engaging members 3 and the cutting edge of the saw, being straight, is rested also on the plane surface, the parallelism of the lower edge of the fence 1 and the straight cutting edge of the saw will be established and maintained until the device is securely clamped onto the saw blade by means of the bolt 4 and its nut 7, and by means of the clamping screw S, as hereinbefore described. After this clamping has been effected, the binding screws 14 may be loosened, the adjusting plates returned to their positions with their lower ends coincident with or above the lower ends of the clamping members 6, and the binding screws 14 again tightened to hold the adjusting plates in such positions, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing. Then the saw is ready to make the cut and may be operated in the usual manner, cutting into the piece 17 until the lower side of the fence 1 has come in contact with the upper surface of the piece, upon which further cutting of the saw will be prevented and the depth ofthe cut limited to the extent that it is desired.

1t will be understood that if the cutting edge olf the saw blade is not straight, my improved gage will operate just as efficiently if it is adjusted to such a saw blade in the manner hereinbefore described, because, if the adjusting plates are moved downward to the required positions and rest on the plane surface and the saw blade inserted into the gage, the part or parts of the cutting edge of the saw blade which will rest on the plane surface along with the adjusting plates will be the required distance from the lower side of the fence 1. Of course, if the cutting edge of the saw blade is uniformly convex, only one part will rest on the plane surface and, when the saw is used, this will be the only part of the cutting edge which will do any cutting. lf the cutting edge of the saw blade were uniformly concave, then two parts would rest on the plane surface and these would be the only parts that do any cutting. ln any case, it will be seen that the parts of the cutting edge which do the cutting will be prevented from entering the work any `farther than is required by the contact of the lower side of the fence 1 with the upper side of the work.

As illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and S, and as above described, my invention is applied to an ordinary saw blade having the back of the same thickness as the part of the blade near the cutting edge. However, my improved gage is equally well adapted for use with a saw having its back thicker than the part near the cutting edge, such as a back-saw. l/vlhen a back-saw is clamped in the gauge, as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing, the back only will be clamped by the arm 2 and engaging member 3, while the blade proper', indicated at 5, will occupy a position parallel with the arm 2 and spaced away from it, so that it is consequently at right angles to the lower side of the fence 1, as it should be. rllhe lower end of the resilient engagii'ig member 3 may approach or even make contact with the blade 5, but it will be understood that it is not necessary nor desirable that it should engage with the blade 5 in such degree as to control its position. The sides of the back 5b of the saw being straight, and the back being amply wide, the back-saw will be found to be held in rigid position in the gage bythe mere engagement of the arm 2 and engaging member 3 with the back. Since the slot 13 in the adjusting plate 12 does not extend completely to the lower side of the blade, but it is desired that the graduations on the blade shall be present and he used below the termination of said slot 13, another slot 1S is cut vinto the lower end of the adjusting plate a little to one side of the lower end of the slot 13 and terminating slightly above the lower termination of the slot 13, so that those graduations which are below the lower end of the slot 13 and do not terminate along its side may terminate along the side of said slot 13. hus, when it is desired to use such graduations, the lower end of the clamping member (i will be visible through the slot 13, allowing the graduations to be brought coincident with it as desired. Thus, all the graduations on the adjusting plate are made available by the use of the separate slots 13 and 13, while the adjusting plate is not weakened by continuing the slot 13 to a point close to or at its lower end, as would be necessary if only one slot were used.

TWhen my improved gage is constructed oll metal, the vfence l may be conveniently formed of an angle bar, as shown, and the arms 2, being suitably recessed near their lower ends so that the* form an accurate joint with the bar, may be rigidly secured thereto, each with one surface continuous with the side of the angle bar and at right angles to the other or lower side. The rigid connection between the arms 2 and the angle bar forming the fence 1 may be made by means of rivets 1S, as illustrated in Figs. 3, it and G of the drawing, in which case the arms 2 will be permanently secured to the fence. lf it is desired that the arms 2 shall be removably secured to the fence, machine screws 1Sn may be used, as illustrated in Fig. 7 of the drawing. In either case, the required accuracy of the construction of the device may be attained by assembling the fence 1 and arms 2 and finishing them together, so as to bring their respective surfaces in the proper relation to each other. l/Vhen it is desired to construct the gage of wood, it will be found more convenient to construct the fence l of a straight piece of wood of oblong, rectangular cross section, such as indicated at la in Fig. 8 of the drawing, allowing one of its Wider sides to constitute the lower side of the fence, and then allow the lower end of the arm, such as indicated at 2a in Fig. 8 of the drawing, to abut against the upper side of the fence, and run a wood screw 19 from the lower side of the fence up into the lower end of the arm.

For increasing the efficiency of the engagement between the engaging member 3 and the saw blade, the engaging member 3 may be provided with a facing 20 of a softer material, such as felt. This material, besides increasing the efficiency of engagement, also prevents injury to the surface of the saw blade.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence, adapted, when in operative position, to lie longitudinally of the saw blade, arms on the fence adapted to extend past the back of the saw, clamping members on the arms, and adjusting plates on the clamping members, substantially as set forth.

2. In a saw gage, the combination With a fence and arms on the fence, of clamping members on the arms, and adjusting plates on the clamping members, substantially as set forth.

3. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence, adapted, when in operative position, to lie longitudinally of the saw blade, and arms on the fence adapted to extend past the back of the saw, of a resilient engaging member articulately attached to each of the arms, and a rigid clamping member superimposed on each of the engaging members and articulately attached to the engaging members, substantially as set forth.

4. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence, adapted, when in operative position, to lie longitudinally of the saw blade, and arms on the fence adapted to extend past the back of the saw, of a resilient engaging member and a rigid clamping member articulately attached to each of the arms, means for adjusting the positions of the engaging members and the clamping members with respect to the arms, and adjusting plates slidably mounted on the clamping members, substantially as set forth.

5. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence and arms on the fence, of engaging members and clamping members articulately attached to the arms, and graduated adjusting plates adjustably mounted thereon, substantially as set forth.

6. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence, and arms on the fence, of an engaging member and a clamping member articulately attached to each of the arms, and adjusting plates on the clamping members, substantially as set forth.

7. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence and rigid arms on the fence, of a resilient engaging member and a rigid clamping member articulately attached to each of the arms, and adjusting plates on the clamping members, substantially as set forth.

8. In a saw gage, the combination with a straight fence, adapted, when in operative position to lie longitudinally of the saw blade, arms on the fence adapted to extend past the back of the saw, a resilient engaging member articulately attached to each of the arms, a rigid clamping member superimposed on each of the engaging members and articulately attached to the engaging member and to the arms, the engaging members and clamping members terminating coincident with the lower side of the fence, and an adjusting plate slidably mounted on each of the clamping members provided with a slot through Which the lower end of the clamping member on which the plate is mounted is visible, and having graduations along the side of the slot, substantially as set forth.

9. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence and arms on the fence, of a clamping member for each of the arms, a bolt running through each of the arms and the clamping member thereon, articulately attaching them together, and a stud rigidly mounted in each of the clamping members, each of the arms having a recess into which one of the studs loosely extends, substantially as set forth.

10. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence and arms on the fence, of an engaging member and clamping member for each of the arms, a bolt passing through each of the arms and through the engaging members and clamping members thereon to articulately attach them together, and a stud rigidly mounted in the clamping member, the arm and the engaging member being provided with openings into which the stud loosely extends, substantially as set forth.

11. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence and means for securing the fence to the saw blade, of an adjusting plate slidable at right angles to the fence provided with a slot extending parallel to the direction in which it is adapted to be adjusted and graduations along the side of the slot, the graduations being adapted to be brought coincident with the lower side of the fence by the process of bringing them coincident With an indicator which is visible through the slot, said slot terminating short of the end of the plate and the plate being provided with a second slot in the end short of which the first slot terminates, and graduations along the side of the second slot which are not along the side of the 'first slot, substantially as set forth.

12. In a saw gage, the combination with a fence adapted when in operative position, to lie longitudinally of the saw blade, arms on the fence adapted to extend past the back of the saw, a resilient engaging member for each of the arms, a rigid clamping member for each of the resilient engaging members, a bolt passing through each of the arms where it extends past the back of the saw and through the engaging member and clamping member on the arm, a nut on the bolt for adjustably and artieulately securing the engaging member and the clamping member on the arm, a stud rigidly mounted in each of the clamping members, the engaging members and the arms having openings into which the studs loosely extend, clamping screws in the clamping members adapted to engage with the engaging members, faeings on the engaging members adapted to engage with the saw blade when it 1s inserted between the engaging members and the fence and its arms, channel shaped adj usting plates embracing the clamping members and slidable longitudinally thereon, provided with longitudinal slots, binding screws taking through the slots in the adjusting plates and into the clamping members, the ends of the clamping members being coincident with the lower side of the fence, the adjusting plates being provided with graduations along the edges of the slots therein adapted to be brought coincident with the lower ends of the clamping members, said lower ends being visible through the slots, and said adjusting plates being adapted to be held in position by said binding screws, substantially as set forth.

EDVARD W'. HABERMAAS.

Vv'itnesses JAMES N. RAMsEY, CLARENCE Pnnnnw. 

